New 31-unit apartment building at 43rd and Sansom Streets will add to Walnut Hill neighborhood renewal

A modern new apartment building is being planned at 43rd and Sansom Streets, just off of Walnut Street in the Walnut Hill neighborhood.  The new building is being designed by Blitz Architecture, but the developer is as yet undisclosed.  It just received approval from the Zoning Board on March 5.

This new building will be four storeys, with a maximum height of 49 feet.  It will contain 31 apartments, 30 of which will be one bedroom units and one unit will be two bedrooms with 1,000 square feet of living space.  There will be two retail spaces on 43rd Street, each with 1,400 square feet of space.  There will, also, be 13 new surface parking spaces and bike racks, as well as, a green roof on top.  The outside facade will have bay windows and granite and aluminum panels for a modern look.

The new building will be adjacent to a doctor’s office building, owned by the same developer and used by Bravo Health, on Walnut Street.  It is behind another small, older apartment building on the corner of 43rd and Walnut Streets, which has several small retail establishments on each side.  Across 43rd Street, is a Shop’n Bag supermarket, so the new retail spaces will fit nicely into the neighborhood, adding a bit more street activity to a growing retail corridor there.

This is a nice addition to Walnut Hill, that helps move the neighborhood forward with new retail and upscale residences.  The immediate neighborhood has been the home of famous archaeologists and anthropologists who were connected to the University of Pennsylvania’s world-class College of Archaeology and Anthropology, including Margaret Mead and Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian Director of Antiquities (the chief archaeologist for the Egyptian government), who lived there for seven years in the 1980s and described the area around 43rd & Walnut, at that time, as depressed and dangerous.  Walnut Hill has come a long way from that time, and this development continues that progress.  This building is on the same block as The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College and a couple blocks from the new Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel at 41st and Walnut Streets, that was built by Campus Apartments.  Campus Apartments would like to build another apartment building at the corner of 41st & Walnut and has recently bought an old, red-brick warehouse at 42nd and Chestnut Streets, where they would like to build two highrises, one an office building and another an apartment building.  This new building is, also, three blocks from the Fresh Grocer supermarket and The Rave movie theater.  Other developments in the neighborhood include 2.0 University Place, an office building at 41st Street and Powelton Avenue, the renovation of the old Provident Mutual Life building, at 46th and Market Streets, into the new Police headquarters building, improvements to Clark Park to the south in the Spruce Hill neighborhood, and the renovation of the old West Philadelphia High School building into apartments, about four blocks west of this new building, at 47th & Walnut.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home or investment property in this improving neighborhood, or any other one in the city, please contact me at gabriel.gottlieb@lnf.com, or check out my Long & Foster agent portal, here, my Facebook realtor page, Gabriel G. Philly Realtor, or my twitter page, @GabrielGPhilaRE.  You can, also, learn more about our Long & Foster Philly Center City Office, here.  There are no renderings or online links to this building yet, but you can view the info from the Zoning Board of Adjustment, here, and view my pictures of the site and neighborhood, below.

Site, @ 43rd & Sansom Streets, where the new apartment building will be built

Bravo Health office, on Walnut, and site of the new building behind on Sansom Street

The new building site, showing 4200 block of Sansom Street

Neighboring older apartment building, @ 43rd & Walnut, has several retail establishments

Shop’n Bag supermarket, across the street from the new building @ 43rd & Walnut Streets

Looking east on Walnut Street, from 43rd Street, towards the Restaurant School, Homewood Suites, and the Penn campus

Looking west down Walnut Street, from 43rd Street

Looking north up 43rd Street, toward Drexel’s Vidas Athletic Field

Homes and apartments on 43rd Street, north of Sansom

Homes on the 4200 block of Sansom Street, across from the new building

Looking east on Sansom, with Homewood Suites visible in background

Looking west down Sansom

This empty lot, nearby at 43rd & Chestnut Streets, could be developed some day

Old warehouse, at 42nd & Chestnut Streets, is supposed to be replaced with highrises by Campus Apartments

2.0 University Place office building, @ 41st Street & Powelton Avenue, is near the new apartment building at 43rd & Sansom

The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College will be next to the new apartment building

Homewood Suites by Hilton, @ 41st & Walnut

The Fresh Grocer, @ 40th & Walnut Streets

The Rave movie theater, @ 40th & Walnut